Toni Morrison
' Toni Morrison' (born Chloe Ardelia Wofford; February 18, 1931) is an American novelist, editor, and professor. Her novels are known for their epic themes, vivid dialogue, and richly detailed characters. Among her best known novels are The Bluest Eye, Sula, Song of Solomon and Beloved. She was also commissioned to write the libretto for a new opera, Margaret Garner, first performed in 2005. She won the Pulitzer Prize and the American Book Award in 1988 for Beloved and the Nobel Prize in 1993. On May 29, 2012, she received the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Tossup Questions # In one of this author's works, the narrator wonders whether the mute cook Maggie was really black, after a childhood friend calls her a bigot for kicking that cook. In another of this author's works, a woman overhears the schoolteacher talk about "characteristics" and asks an ailing widow what that word means. State wards Roberta and Twyla switch beds every night while living at a shelter, and meet repeatedly throughout their lives in (*) "Recitatif," this author's only short story. In a novel by this author, a spirit comes back to haunt 124 Bluestone Road after her mother kills her in Baby Suggs's backyard and nurses Denver with milk and her sister's blood. For 10 points, name this author who wrote about the escaped slave Sethe protecting her children by killing them in the novel Beloved. # In one novel by this author, the sight of the title character causes Mr. Finley to choke to death on a chicken bone. Another character in that novel by this author proclaims that everyone should kill each other and themselves on National Suicide Day. In another novel, the death of marigolds indicates the death of Pecola's child, conceived when her father raped her. This author of Sula created a novel in which a woman names her newborn child Denver after the girl who delivers her, before the schoolteacher comes and threatens to take Sethe and her children back to Sweet Home plantation. For 10 points, name this African American author of The Bluest Eye and Beloved. # This author portrayed Florens, Lina, and Rebekah, the slave, servant, and wife of Dutchman Jacob Vaark, in a recent novel set in the 17th century. In another novel by this author, set in the town of Medallion, Nell Wright witnesses the title character causing Chicken Little's death by drowning. In a third work by this author of A Mercy, Baby Suggs dies in the house 124 Bluestone Road, where Paul D comes to live as the lover of the protagonist. In that book by this Ohioan author of Sula, Sethe is haunted by the spirit of the infant daughter she killed after escaping slavery. For 10 points, name this American woman whose novels include Beloved. # This author wrote about Florens and Lina, slaves in colonial America, in her most recent novel, A Mercy. She created a character who is raped by her father Cholly, Pecola Breedlove. Another of her characters is nicknamed "Milkman" because he was breastfed for a long time, and is named Macon Dead. This author of The (*) Bluest Eye and Song of Solomon created Sethe, who kills her daughter to save her from slavery. For 10 points, name this author of Beloved. # In this author's most recent novel, Florens falls in love with a blacksmith at the plantation of Jacob Vaark. Another novel by this author describes Pecola Breedlove's yearning for the title facial features. This author of A Mercy and The Bluest Eye also wrote a novel in which the slave Sethe kills her infant daughter, whose spirit returns to her household. For 10 points, name this African-American novelist of Beloved.